The family of a pedestrian who was run over on the Boise Bench has identified him and asked for help covering his funeral arrangements.
Officers responded to a call from a driver shortly before 9:40 p.m. Friday who reported they had run over a body near West Overland Road and South Atlantic Street, a Boise Police Department news release said Saturday. The driver believed the person had already been dead when they came upon him, according to police.
“Upon further investigation, officers learned that several drivers saw what they believed to be an object in the roadway and were able to swerve out of the way,” the release said. “But some drivers were not able to, and evidence indicates the victim had been run over several times.”
Police said they did not know the victim’s name Saturday, but family members came forward Monday to identify him as 69-year-old Donald “Ducky” Mattocks.
Niece Megan Mattocks confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that her uncle was walking home at the time of his death. He was found just a “stone’s throw” from the Boise home he shared with his identical twin brother, Megan Mattocks said.
“He was a loving son, brother, uncle, and ‘old man’ as we affectionately referred to him,” Megan Mattocks said in a GoFundMe post. “He was feisty and fun and will be missed so terribly by my family.”
Police said Mattocks was found in the roadway with “severe fatal injuries.” His niece expressed dismay that “so many people left him in the street without thinking of helping or trying to,” but told the Statesman that her family was also “extremely grateful for the people who helped him.”
Mattocks’ family created a GoFundMe fundraiser seeking to raise $10,000 to cover costs relating to his death and funeral.
“He was a simple man who worked up until his life was cut short,” his niece wrote online. “I am hoping the community of Boise and the people who cared about my uncle will help my family with the arrangements necessary to see that my uncle deserves a better ending than the one that he was shown the night he passed.”
Mattocks was born in northern California in 1955 and had seven siblings, according to Megan Mattocks. She said her uncle served in the U.S. Army before moving to Boise, where he spent the remaining 30 years of his life.
The Ada County Coroner’s Office said in a Monday release that Mattocks’ cause and manner of death was still spending. The Boise Police Department said Monday that “this death is still under investigation and we do not have any new updates to share today.”
Police said Saturday that the investigation was ongoing and anyone with information about the incident who hadn’t already spoken to detectives should contact Ada County Dispatch at 208-377-6790.
Idaho saw 31 pedestrian deaths last year, doubling the 2022 death toll, according to the Idaho Transportation Department.
